My dad used to tell me that if he was heading for the front line, he would park his bike up a couple of miles away and walk the rest of the way as they were quite noisy and the Germans could her you coming and their snipers would shoot you - or put wire across the road at neck height. He said a few he knew who were lazy didn’t do this, which is why they did not survive!!
My dad did get as far as Alexandria in North Africa - but I am not sure what division he was with, but I will dig out the pictures tonight and see if there are any clues there.
I’m with you there, my last bike was a Kawasaki VN800 V twin cruiser, not fast but I loved it, if I’d had more money it would have been a 1200 Harley, the bike went , but we now get our "being out there " fix with the five, … but given the chance
I think that those of us who rode through the 2-stroke mayhem of the early 80’s probably had a lesser chance of survival than being shot at by a German sniper in ww2!! I used to think that sliding down the road on your backside was all part of motorcycling way back then.
I remember all that very well , there was a bunch of us, I had a Suzuki GT250A and the others had either Yam RD250s or Kwacker KH250s, we always left huge smoke plumes behind us
Just love all those old photos and memories of hopefully happy days, here’s my Dads Norton 16H that he spent decades tinkering around with until he got it fully re built and running, …one of his BSA Gold Flash taken in the 80s I think, and one of a bike that I always regret selling, a BMW K1100 RS , but all good memories anyway
I kick myself now, not having pics of some of my bikes
I had a fantastic Rocket Goldstar (sort of) RRT2 gearbox, TLS front brake, Borrani alloy rims, TT100 tyres, clip ons, rear sets, reverse cone Mega’s, swept back exhausts, single seat with hump, 5 gallon alloy tank with strap and Monza cap, chrome oil tank/battery box/engine plates/headlight etc. Beautiful bike but a car hit me side on, smashed both Tibula and Fibula, stuck straight out sideways, what a mess. One of my brothers bought the salvage and took it back to a standard A10 spec. When I got out of hospital and got paid out, I bought a 5ta, 500cc speed twin while I still had the full pot on my leg. Rigged up a ‘rest’ for the right leg and an extended shaft so I could change gear with my right hand! Wore through the pot twice while recovering
Barrie
Sounds like a right bad experience, hopefully long sorted out now.
The only Brit bike I’ve owned was a BSA 250 Starfire, liked it but had a bunch of problems with it, eventually got rid and went after a Morini 3 and a half, but got gazumped by someone who flashed more cash, ended up with a GPz550 among other bikes, always liked the Ducati Monster
Nigh on 50 years ago now! While in hospital, eventually, with help from Physio, I got to go to the loo myself, fell off the pot and broke the break, again! Long story short, they merely sliced the cast, put a wooden wedge into the gap and plastered back over it! To this day, my right foot is splayed out at an angle? Really difficult to stand upright with both feet parallel
If you remember the old Littlewoods catalogues, male models used to stand pointing at imaginary things with their legs/feet at a jaunty angle? That’s me but certainly not a male model!
Barrie
When I first stared work in “The City” in 1960 the office was full of young guys just out of service (National Service) who were bikers and their pet name for Pride and Clarke was “Snide and Shark”, dunno why, rhyming slang?
Sounds like an unfortunate and painful period in your life, but at least your in one piece and more importantly you’ve remained positive and retained a sense of humour .
My eldest son who is 31 has just announced that he is starting his CBT training on the 22nd of August, worried? yes, but at his age and with my past history , who am I to discourage him? , he wants a Suzuki Bandit and he’s going to put me down as a named rider on the policy, …there may be trouble ahead
A bit of a Mecca for my family, myself, my brother and my Dad spent may hours there. I used to love browsing thru all the army surplus and camping gear, trying to find stuff I could pack on the bike for touring.
Exchange and Mart, they were always advertising in there and a great place to look for bikes and motors. Like an old fashion E Bay. What a great publication, my dad got it every week.
